Kyle’s hand trembled in the air, still in the space where Cornelius had been. I didn’t have a choice. He looked down at the lifeless body of the Liberation commander as he slowly lowered his hand. RESONANCE was just as effective as he thought it would be, if not moreso. Still, this was the first life he’d truly taken. Sure, some of the other raiders he’d encountered may not have survived for long in the wilderness with their injuries, but he’d still left them alive.

This was different. One touch. A single surge of mana. A body. Kyle shuddered, unable to look away. He could still hear the large man’s scream echoing in his mind before he fell, lifeless. I didn’t have a choice. He knew that. If Kyle hadn’t used RESONANCE to end it there, Garth would be dead. His whole squad would be dead. If their roles were reversed, he knew Cornelius wouldn’t have thought twice. His eyes fell on his still-trembling hand, and with effort he formed a fist. I didn’t have a choice. With that, he turned away from the corpse and turned to Garth’s team.

His triage training kicking in, Kyle evaluated the situation. The young woman seemed unhurt, though she was looking at him with eyes full of fear. He couldn’t blame her. Moving his gaze over the group, he saw that Garth’s wounds had been largely closed up, though the man had lost consciousness. Then there was the matter of the chubby Mage and the Healer. Both had been struck by the stones, and the damage was difficult to evaluate.

“C.H.A.D.D., show me what we’re working with.”

The drone obliged, indicating multiple broken ribs for the Healer. The Mage had a dislocated shoulder and a cracked sternum. Kyle sighed in relief, thankful that the injuries weren’t life threatening. First, Kyle turned his attention to the young Healer who had been treating Garth.

“You did good work, hold on.”

Kyle focused HEAL into the young man, and just a minute later the man sat up. He nodded to Kyle, a pained expression still on his face.

“Thank you… sir. How… how did…”

Kyle cut him off.

“No time. Get back to treating Garth, I’ll get your friend here up and moving.”

The other Healer clearly wanted to press the issue, ultimately decided it was wiser to listen. Treating the Mage was a similarly quick process, with the chubby man – Joseph – looking between Kyle and the body of Cornelius in open awe.

“It’s not something to be envious of.” Kyle finally said as he stood up to walk away.

“If there was another option, I would have taken it.”

Joseph stood up, straightening his back.

“Well to me, sir, you saved all of us. I wasn’t strong enough, none of us were. So, thank you.”

Kyle was about to deliver another sharp reply, but before he could C.H.A.D.D. spoke up.

[DR. MAYHEW AND I ARE GLAD TO BE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO HELP.]

Joseph looked confused, and Kyle took the hint. Without a word, he walked over to where the Healer – Johannes – was treating Garth. The grizzled swordsman was sitting up, eyes on Kyle.

“You look edgier than the last time I saw you. What’s with the get up?”

“You’re just jealous.” Kyle snorted. “If you had some real armor, you wouldn’t be in such a sorry state.”

The older man broke into a grin.

“Good to see you, kid. Though we’ve got ourselves quite a mess to deal with here.”

Kyle nodded, looking around the camp. Many of the regular soldiers were either incapacitated or had run off. With a frown, he saw that Tucker’s body was missing. A problem for another day. For now, they seemed to have won. That left huddled groups of workers looking on in fear.

Stolen story; please report.

“You’re not wrong. What are you doing here, Garth? This is a Liberation encampment; I find it hard to believe that DeRosa is working with them knowingly.”

“Before today I’d never heard of Liberation. All we knew was that this was a more organized group of bandits, and that we had a common enemy we could each benefit from removing. Though from the looks of it, that enemy was you.”

That explained a lot. Still, something was bothering Kyle.

“How does that dagger user fit into this? If it wasn’t for him, I think you could have brought Cornelius down.”

“Terrance Banehaus. He was assigned to my squad in the beginning, but something always felt a little off about him. I’m not entirely sure how he was involved in this mess.”

“If it makes you feel better, I didn’t realize what a mess it would be either.”

Kyle and Garth both snapped their eyes towards Mary Ellen, who was standing stock still. Behind her, the dagger user pressed a blade against her throat. One of his arms was still useless after Kyle’s attack, but the danger he posed to the Mage was real.

“Here’s how this will work. I’m going to go on a little stroll here with Mary Ellen. You’re going to stand right there like the brave heroes you are. When I’m clear, I’ll let her go. Or maybe I won’t. What’s for sure is that if ANY OF YOU MOVE I’LL RIP HER THROAT OUT.”

His cavalier tone was replaced by a violent shout, eyes wide. Kyle and Garth both put their hands up, not wanting to antagonize the man.

Terrance took several slow steps back, knife still pressed against Mary Ellen. Suddenly, he froze. Mary Ellen fell to the ground, taking a shallow cut on her neck. It took him a moment to realize what she’d done, and Kyle grinned as he activated HASTE to get to her side. She had channeled her electric attack and struck Terrance while he was distracted, stunning him and giving her a moment to escape. The man looked to the woman on the ground as he shook with the electricity running through his body. His eyes were murder, and the dagger began to plunge towards her.

For the second time that day, a blast of fire saved the day. Joseph’s outstretched hand still had wisps of flame, and he wasn’t done yet.

“Get away from her!”

With a determination that Kyle hadn’t expected from the chubby Mage, he cast FIREBALL after FIREBALL. They were small, and much weaker than the ones he’d seen from Carlyle, but what they lacked in potency they made up for in number. Terrance found himself pushed back by a series of small explosions, until he finally fell to the ground. Joseph panted as he looked at the smoking form of his former teammate, then looked to Mary Ellen. Kyle had gotten to her side, and a quick application of HEAL saw to the wound on her neck. She nodded her thanks before running to Joseph and giving him a hug, tears in her eyes. Kyle made out the words she kept repeating over and over.

“Thank you.”

Joseph seemed numb, just holding on to the young woman. Turning back to Garth, Kyle spoke up.

“Get the workers, take your team, and get back to Nierburg. There are people here who need help, and I can’t do it all on my end.”

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen.” Garth’s response took Kyle by surprise, and he looked at the other man, bewildered.

“What do you mean by that?”

“These are the bastards who took Duilleag. I’ll never get a better opportunity than this to take them down.”

“Garth, it’s a bad idea. Assuming that ranger makes it back, that would leave them with three powerful awakened, not to mention the soldiers. It’d be suicide.”

“That may well be. I don’t care. If I go back to Nierburg, DeRosa will just have me holed up watching the gate until I die of old age. This is the only chance I have, and I’m going to take it. At least I’ll make them bleed for what they’ve done.”

Kyle saw the steel in the older man’s eyes, and knew the conversation wasn’t going to end productively. He decided to change tactics.

“Do you really think these kids are going to be enough to get these people to Nierburg safely? They have injuries, Garth.”

At that, Garth’s eyes softened, if only a bit.

“Fine. We’ll get them close, then I’m off to Duilleag.”

“You’re being way too stubborn about this. I’m telling you – you won’t be able to storm the settlement. All you’ll accomplish is dying.”

Garth snorted in derision.

“I could have said the same about you attacking this camp. A Healer charges into a camp against trained soldiers, and comes out on top. I figure I can’t do too much worse.”

Kyle fought down his rising frustration.

“Garth, I’m not happy with what I did here. I don’t regret helping these people, but I’m not happy about what it took to do it. I killed a man today.”

Kyle took a deep breath after saying the words, somehow making it more real.

“You running off to die doesn’t serve anybody.”

Garth seemed to stop and think for a moment, before he spoke.

“I know it’s selfish. I also know that DeRosa is never going to give resources to pursue this. I made a decision a while back, to choose a skill that I know they wouldn’t have approved. I was waiting for a time like this, and now I have it. This is something I have to do, and even if I die, I’m not going to budge from this, Kyle.”

Kyle considered the other man for a moment before sighing.

“This conversation isn’t over, Garth. For now, let’s get them organized.”

The next couple of hours were spent salvaging supplies and organizing the workers left in the camp. As they began their journey towards Nierburg, they decided on a plan. Days later, they made it to a crossroads. With a solemn nod, Joseph led the remnants of Garth’s team to Nierburg with the workers, where he would pass along the message that Terrance was killed and Garth missing. Offering their goodbyes, Garth and Kyle turned to pursue their foes in Duilleag.